Replacing my daughter's chicken today!

[BlueRoseMama]

I found a guy on Craigslist that has hundreds of hens. One of his batches was hatched just a month before ours and it has Golden Cuckoo Marans in it. Cyan wants to replace her dear Wendy with this new chicken. So we are going to pick her up one today at 4. Wish us luck!

(Story of losing her pet here: http://goddesshobbies.blogspot.com/2010/07/dog-sitting-tragedy.html )

I have set up a little run area in the run for the hen we are getting and we will put her there for a few days until she intigrates into the new flock. Since it is only one, I am not really worried about her fitting in... but any ideas on how to speed up the process of intigration would be super helpful! Thanks!

BLessings,

Val

 

[NeeleysAVLChicks]

I'm so sorry about your daughter losing her hen, we had a similar situation happen at our house when we were dog sitting for some friends, not fun.

I have to pipe in though, to prevent further loss you really, really, really must quarantine your new hen for at least 4 weeks before introducing her to your flock. There has been thread after thread of folks getting a new bird (even though the new bird often looks healthy), introducing them to their flock only to suffer catastrophic losses from any variety of nasty diseases.

Please check out this thread for more info: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=12751&p=1

I know its a huge pain, but trust me, its so worth it.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, please quarantine and observe for at least 30 days and don't let your others near her.

 

[leahthor]

Just piping in to really bring the thought home...quarantine is a must.

 

[gryeyes]

In addition to the quarantine advice, I would also worry a bit about the introduction of a single bird to the flock. ONLY because they could gang up on the newcomer.

After quarantine, try to provide her "meet and greet" housing for a week or so. I have "grow out" coops for that purpose. Just house her in a small coop or cage with cover and a temporary fence between her and the rest of the flock. I use chicken wire because this is INSIDE the chicken run; the newcomer(s) are sequestered there but the temporary fence allows safe interaction between them and the main flock. They can see each other, smell and hear each other, and even do chest bumps against the chicken wire if they must. By the time I take the temporary fence down, there's less "stranger amonst us" going on and integration goes well.